


Warpaint

by draculard



Series: Nightthrawn 15 Day Ficlets [6]
Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Face Paint, Ficlet, M/M, Pining, Rituals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29504265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard
Summary: There are five events in life when Chiss traditionally paint their faces: births, deaths, marriages, battle victory, and defeat.In his exile, Thrawn has forgotten all these patterns except one.
Relationships: Nevil Cygni | Nightswan/Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Series: Nightthrawn 15 Day Ficlets [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2158710
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Warpaint

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 6 Prompt, "Paint."
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr, I'm draculard there too

There are five traditional events in life when Chiss must paint their faces, and a different pattern for each event. Births, deaths, and marriages all apply to civilians. For warriors, there are another two: victory, observed in private, and defeat, practiced in public to cement the warrior’s humility and shame. 

In the Empire, it is unacceptable for Thrawn to observe his cultural practices. He has never been a traditionalist; he lets the memory of those patterns fade with time, accepts that he will never wear the ceremonial facepaint of a birth or marriage or funeral ever again. Furthermore, he has never been one to celebrate his victories, has always taken advantage of the private nature of that ceremony to avoid practicing it altogether.

But he never forgets the patterns required for defeat. He will never paint them again — has neither the brushes nor pigments needed — but he lies in bed at night, his blanket pushed down and his bare chest exposed to the cool air of the Chimaera, and he runs his fingers over his cheekbones and jaw in the pattern that represents failure, shame, humility.

And of course, new knowledge gained.

It has always been Thrawn’s favorite pattern, the only one — other than death — he truly understood the beauty of. Now, as he grows to associate it more and more with Nightswan, he appreciates it even more. Each minor loss, every subtle clue he misses — even if the Empire counts it as a victory, Thrawn does not. Others see his brilliance versus Nightswan’s mistakes; it’s Thrawn’s responsibility to focus on the opposite.

He closes his eyes. His fingers trail lightly over his eyelids, over his lashes, over his temples and cheekbones again. The touch is light enough to tease, to set his nerves on fire, to make his cock thicken beneath the sheets.

 _Nightswan_ , he thinks.

He would be almost pleased to lose to him again.


End file.
